Sunny 94.1

[mhsbroncos2005]

Did I hear someone doing the afternoon shift on Sunny? Someone please confirm this..If it is true then they are really improving quite nice for a station that is only 25,000 watts. At least over a year they have improved a bit in the ratings. Just my two cents. Later.

 

[TommyR]

Good move. Anything to keep this station growing. I enjoy AJ. He's more "present" than the other local music-based solo morning hosts.

 

[Rob]

Is the station back at full power? Last I heard there were at 1/2 power.

Rob

 

[mhsbroncos2005]

Well...I agree...they are basically an oldies station in my book....I know they are close to moving the station into the Renda building in Jacksonville. They were also messing with the RDS transmitter yesterday thanks to the FM tuner on my iPod. Heck they are close to a 2 share and if they can get that soon then I can say they are doing good for what they got to work with. Later

 

[Rob]

Ok, I thought this was referring to the Pensacola 94.1 (tells you how often I listen to radio)

I think that's called Sunny too or am I mistaken that for 98.5.

Rob

 

[wannabepd]

I believe Renda has already moved the control room to Jax. AJ Davis is recording the morning show in the Jax building. The programming is sent to the transmitter at WGV via T1. It is the same set up as Movin. The sales staff is still in St. Augustine. I think it is a safe bet that Sunny has seen its best ratings without adding more talent and increasing the signal in Jax. As far as afternoon talent is concerned, it is hard to imagine that Renda would add more talent to Sunny when they have yet to put anyone on Movin. The initial intention was to copy the programming on WDUV in Tampa. That station has a morning host and they provide afternoon traffic, that's it. Sunny had a 1.8 playing the same music as WDUV and no talent. Now the music is very much like Lite 96.1 was 10 years ago. I think it is going to stay around the 1.5/1.6 12+ share for good as it is. Obviously the target demo numbers will continue to be much better. AJ sounds okay on the station as long as he stays away from becoming an oldies Jock. It is a very safe little station that Renda should be able to make some money with long term. The idea is to keep the cost of programming next to nothing. That is the mindset that has taken Cox down in the ratings yet able to maintain large amounts of money. Renda is doing the same thing however; it is not paying off in revenue yet.

 

[John FL]

AJ sounds okay on the station as long as he stays away from becoming an oldies Jock. It is a very safe little station that Renda should be able to make some money with long term. The idea is to keep the cost of programming next to nothing. That is the mindset that has taken Cox down in the ratings yet able to maintain large amounts of money. Renda is doing the same thing however; it is not paying off in revenue yet.

A lot of you folks who read and practice the Corporate Bible forget the public airwaves are supposed to serve the public. Sure, no one including me is suggesting owners shouldn't make a profit. But what many of the big guys are raking in at the expense of downsizing and not truly caring about their audience is obscene. I realize I'm in the minority about all this but certainly it's great to at least have a forum to be heard.

As far as A.J Davis is concerned, I believe he is far better than "OK." I've been tuning him in almost exclusively now for the last several weeks and he is proving to be able to pull off doing a one-man show. He's better than most doing that in this market. I actually like how he cleverly connects a song title to the weather, as an example. If it sounds like he's an oldies jock, who cares? He sounds like who he is and it comes off as very real on the air. If you haven't figured this out about me yet - I never cared much for phony personas. The public wants someone who makes them feel like the jock is talking just to them and is sincere - A.J. is all that in more. He's an asset to Renda Broadcasting - it's just a shame he was in such a limited role for too long.

I hope he tells management to shove it if they ever want him to be something he is not. Can we honestly say overall that corporate decisions over the last few years have improved radio quality and public responsiveness? I think we all know the answer. Keeping the public in the dark (little/no information provided) takes priority over making millions more.

I tip my hat to those of you who work in radio. I don't know how you put up with all the crap.

 

[TommyR]

Woody Carlson was on today in PM drive. It was most likely VT because there was no traffic. I'm all for it, traffic or not.

 

[alcapone]

WOW things are hot and heavy in Jacksonville radio. Woody doing afternoons on a low power piece of crap like 94.1 pleeeese

 

[Yada Yada]

The idea is to keep the cost of programming next to nothing. [/color]That is the mindset that has taken Cox down in the ratings yet able to maintain large amounts of money. Renda is doing the same thing however; it is not paying off in revenue yet.
[/quote]

I've been reading these posts for a long time and have yet to ever post. But I had to tonight as this was one of the most ridiculous statements ever made. Does anyone read the Miller Kaplin Report? Since L/T left Cox, they have lost a tremendous amount of money as a cluster. Cox is averaging losses of about 400k to 600k per quarter. That puts them down nearly $2 million over two years. Renda on the other hand has worked with very low budgets from the beginning of time. WEJZ is a cash cow. WMUV has to be making something as they don't have air talent overhead. WGNE has made budget or better for 16 straight months. With those Gator concerts, they have pretty decent NTR but nothing like WPLA who is just killing it in NTR dollars. WSOS had nearly no overhead as they are working with a Morning Talent and Afternoon Talent, and three sales people. With AJ and Woody already in the building prior to going on the air for WSOS, they are probably making a few extra dollars which would be very little from the WSOS budget.

 

[wannabepd]

Yada makes a good point however; I never said Cox was increasing revenue with the Jax cluster. I said they are generating large amounts of money, the station I had in mind was 96.9. The revenue doubled in the first 2 years after Cox spent nearly $30,000 on research and another 100,000 on marketing for the change to the classic hits format. I believe the revenue has been on the decline since. Considering the nose dive at 104.5 since L&T left the building (which is turning around I might add) and the lead weight 102.9 has become it is clear the no talent approach will not work accross the board. I was pointing out the fact that this is what is wrong with radio today. Chasing talent out the door will not work long term for Cox or Renda or anyone else. There are some formats that will attract listeners without solid local talent after morning drive such as WDUV in Tampa, there are other formats that require talent. As far as 94.1 is concerned, it has been over 2 years since Renda purchased that station and most months it has lost money, other stations in the Renda group have been covering the payment you may say. Anyone who thinks that Cox or Renda are happy with the way their Jax clusters are performing is not paying attention. I know for a fact that Gator is generating about half the revenue that Tony Renda expected at this point. Renda expected that station to live with a 12+ share of 5 or better. The fact that the station is generating some money is do to the sales staff doing their job every day. Cox is not exempt, 102.9 is not attracting the listeners or the dollars expected. There are more and more stations competing for the same dollars, the pieces of the pie continue to get smaller and owners have to find ways to make up the dollars, cutting human dollars has been the way. If you own your own business long enough, you will most likely face the same decisions that radio operators do. It's just part of staying in business. I'm not saying I agree with the way these owners are trying to compete, it's just amazing to me how many people don't get it. Then again, maybe I don't get it, which would explain why I don't work in radio........ which is a good thing since I have no talent.

 

[BIG APE]

: Tony will probably need some of that JAX money to pay his FCC fine in Brevard County on WTIR!

 

[John FL]

There are more and more stations competing for the same dollars, the pieces of the pie continue to get smaller and owners have to find ways to make up the dollars, cutting human dollars has been the way. If you own your own business long enough, you will most likely face the same decisions that radio operators do. It's just part of staying in business. I'm not saying I agree with the way these owners are trying to compete, it's just amazing to me how many people don't get it.

Wannabepd raises some excellent points. And radio certainly isn't the only business to resort to cutting payroll to make the bottom line better. But one of my gripes is that radio is to not only entertain - but to inform. There are critical dayparts where listeners want and need to know about traffic, road closings, weather events and whatever will affect them. And most stations miss the mark in making significant impression on the listener for them to turn to and rely on for accurate and local reporting. Equally I think it's a very dangerous practice to voice track weather forecasts hours or even days in advance. Weather can change almost in an instant and if the station boasts how beautiful the weather is and a freak shower suddenly develops, credibility goes right out the window. Something no station can afford to loose.

And while we all understand about the bottom line, I'm still clueless as to why talent is not utilized better. I'm all for tight format but when significant events dictate (and there would need to be specific guidelines for the talent to follow), talent should be empowered to talk over a song when not in the programming to keep listeners informed. If I were spending $$$ on talent, I'd expect them to do a little more than just repeating sweeper lines and giving the last song title or artist. And so I'm expecting more from the 94.1 afternoon host in the long run. I'll assume it's best to remain low-key during a break-in period.

As I've said earlier, A.J. Davis has it nailed. He's entertaining without being annoying and he's informational without detracting from the format.
I suppose he's old school as I am but I still think it helps deliver a better product. For what he has to work with and the limits of a low-power station, he still manages to have that "big-town" sound.